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Lens suggestion for speakers at conferences

Started Jan 10, 2017 | Discussions thread
RedFox88 Forum Pro • Posts: 30,738
Re: Lens suggestion for speakers at conferences

Pepege wrote:

Hi,

I own a Canon 80D and I want to use it for shooting speaker photos and sometimes videos at conferences. So it is an indoor low light situation, but not awfully low. And speakers are moving (walking, gestures) but not as much as indoor sports.

What would you recommend for new lenses?

Currently I have the following:

  • Canon EF-S 18-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS STM (nice general purpose, e.g. for video)
  • Canon EF 50mm 1.8 II (sharp only stopped down to 2.8)
  • Canon EF-S 60mm 2.8 Makro (never used it in low light)
  • Canon EF-S 24mm 2.8 (great for wider shots, fast and sharp)

I am quite new to this kind of shooting, I am doing it for my company (but I am not a professional photgrapher). I have a budget for about 2.000 EUR/USD for lenses...

I have read many posts here and reviews from the-digital-picture.

I would say I need:

  • fast lenses to stop motion
  • IS might help for longer focal lengths (but not really on shorter focal lengths).
  • Currently the sharpness of my pictures are diminished because of high ISO values, and not because of low lens quality. I even sometimes get better results with the 50mm wide open at 1.8 than stopped down to 2.8 (and increased sensor noise).
  • Nice bokeh / background blur is important to show the speaker and not the stage behind

Would you agree with my list of requirements?

I have though of the following two lenses:

  • Canon EF-S 17-55mm 2.8 IS USM
  • Canon EF 70-200mm 4.0 L IS USM

both are too slow for indoors in conference rooms

And maybe some faster prime lenses for the most important focal lengths. I checked my best shots so far. There are many with 55mm, 80mm, and some great portraits with 100 or 150mm. So maybe on of the following make sense:

  • Canon EF 85mm 1.8 USM
  • Canon EF 100mm 2.0 USM

eithervwill work

  • Canon EF 135mm 2.0 L USM

probably too long for aps-c indoors

They would be a good addition to the two zooms lenses, wouldn't they?

Or would you recommend the Canon EF 70-200mm 2.8 L IS II USM instead? It is definitely more versatile, but quite expensive and heavy compared to the others...

Thanks a lot!

Peter

You didn't mention external flash. They are great if ceiling is near white for bounce flash

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